Shipping a "valuable" overseas with no tracking.

[maxwar82]

I am selling an item that is very small but has a value of between 150-200$. (computer cpu)

Shipping it overseas, to Spain, for example would cost less than 10$ with small packet air.

This would allow me to sell it world wide with competitive prices.

However as far as I know this service is not Trackable nor insurable.

If I want to have tracking number I have to up the price to 40$ or 45$ With international parcel or Tracked parcel, respectively.

This would make the item virtually unsellable.

What would you do? Am I missing a type of service that would work better?

[kroutpick]

Shipping overseas without tracking is really risky...

If the buyer opens a NRI dispute, you won't be able to provide any proof that item has really been shipped or recieved and you may lose the dispute, and your money. You will never know what really happened to the item...

Canada Post is usually reliable, but you don't know how trustable is the other country postal system, that's why I would recommend you to use tracking, even if it costs 50$

[pjcdn2005]

With the items that I sell, I might get insurance through a third party insurance through a company like shipsurance or u pic. (Cost is about $2/$100)

If you do go that route make sure that you read their terms so that you know what they require in the case of a claim which countries they insure and what sort of items they insure. For example..shipsurance requires that in order to make a claim you have to show proof of shipment. To do that, I've printed an extra copy of the small packet label and asked the post office to stamp it and sign it to show that they have the package.

To be honest I haven't had to test to see if they would accept that however based on other information that I've read, they should accept that as proof of shipment.

[maxwar82]

Well, I could possibly "prove" it was shipped with the Paypal Printing label receipt, but I still think Ebay/paypal would side with the buyer and I would lose everything.  All the while buyer might have got the item, that would be a very easy scam to pull off.

I think I will do as you say and insist on tracked shipping. But that makes selling those type of items internationally pretty much impossible. Sad.

Edit: I will look up those 3rd party insurance.

[pierrelebel]

It depends very much on your risk tolerance level.

For over twenty-five years, I have shipped postage stamps to collectors all around the world using regular - uninsured - no tracking - mail. Every week, several shipments had value exceeding $100.00.

Yes. a few claims have been made over the years about non-receipt and I immediately refunded those buyers.

Overall, absorbing the few losses that occur every year is much cheaper than getting tracking and insuring.

The question is simple: will you lose sleep over a $150 loss?

[recped]

What would you do?

I would ship it the cheapest way possible! Tracking does nothing to speed up or ensure delivery so it's useless except to prevent blatant fraud.

Examples of fraudulent buyers are so rare for me that I don't really think about i unless there are a huge pile of warning signs.

Of course when I ship an expensive item, no matter the method, I do have some concerns until it gets delivered, checking tracking even few hours if I had something to check does nothing to alleviate these concerns, more likely it would just enhance them.

[recped]

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@philippephen89 wrote:

Shipping overseas without tracking is really risky...

 

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Not really! Overseas shipping may be riskier than shipping domestically but tracking doesn't make any difference.

[kroutpick]

I understand your opinions. If I was selling for hundreds of dollars each week/month, I would probably think like pierrelebel.

Since I'm only an occasionnal seller, tracking number gives me more info about my shipment and acts as a proof of reciept.

[maxwar82]

For some reason I am more worried about fraud than lost package so Tracking does make a difference.

Maybe my worries are not founded but I have only sold to Europe once before so I do not have enough experience to feel secure. 

I would probably feel safer with a buyer with large feedback score but I see tons of  <10 feedback buyers.

It seems a private insurance is a good solution I just made an account with InsurePost.

Edit: I think Pierre is right, in the long run it is most likely cheaper to absorb a loss once in a while than always pay inssurance.

But since I am not large volume seller and lack lots of experience I think I would feel better with an insurance for now.